Arnaud Durandeau (middle) of the Lac St. Louis Lions celebrates his 1st period goal with team-mates against Laurentides-Lanaudiere Phenix during Hockey Quebec's U-13 hockey tournament held at Bell Sports Complex in Brossard on May 26, 2012.Peter Mccabe

A West Islander was one of only nine Quebec-born players selected in the National Hockey League amateur draft held this past weekend.

The New York Islanders grabbed Beaconsfield native Arnaud Durandeau in the sixth round with the 165th pick. Durandeau, who once played for the midget AAA Lac St-Louis Lions, suited up last season for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Halifax Mooseheads. That squad also supplied the first overall draftee, Nico Hischier, an import player from Switzerland who was picked by the New Jersey Devils.

Pierre-Olivier Joseph was the only Quebec-born player picked in the first round. He was selected 23rd overall by the Arizona Coyotes. The 31 NHL teams drafted a total of 217 players.

Of the 14 QMJHL players selected in the 2017 NHL draft, five were imports and nine were Quebec-born players, making it the lowest overall number drafted from the league since 1990. It’s the second year running the Montreal Canadiens didn’t draft a Quebecer, reportedly the first time in Habs history this has occurred.

Along with contemplating the roster issues the Habs face going into next season, local hockey fans and pundits are wondering why Quebec seems unable to produce more talented players to attract the attention of NHL scouts.

Lions head coach Jon Goyens, who has worked for the organization for about 10 years, said the success of QMJHL players in the NHL draft can be cyclical. He says youth hockey coaches and league officials need to be open to adapting programs for better player development.

“I think every year you have to evolve in the way you develop a program,” Goyens said. “There are some here in the province (who) are very stuck in their ways. I’ll never claim to be perfect. I’ll never criticize other coaches. But there are lots of situations where there is a huge emphasis on playing not to lose, not winning, but playing not to lose.

“It’s to get the kid to play ‘safe’ hockey. So the kids become all about the systems and systems are dangerous … because systems are made for robots. Kids are not robots.

“We have to present these kids with concepts. We have to continuously work on fundamentals. The base level of fundamentals … needs to be updated and tweaked at each (age) level.”

Those improvements can be made in Quebec youth hockey without needing a summit or another symposium.

“We have the knowledge base and the resources here,” Goyens said.

“We don’t need more criticism (and) we don’t need more finger-pointing if we want to continuously improve how we develop players in Quebec,” he said. “We have to stop criticizing and start listening.”

Goyens, who led the Lions to two bronze medals at the Telus Cup, has coached several midget players who were eventually drafted by the NHL and then turned pro.

“The development program can’t work unless the players buy in,” he said. “We are about connecting their wants and needs as individuals while trying to have everyone have success both individually and collectively.”

Durandeau joins a formidable list of Lac St-Louis Lions alumni to be drafted over the years by the NHL, including recent Habs acquisition Jonathan Drouin, Pointe-Claire’s Michael Matheson of the Florida Panthers and veteran Marc-Edouard Vlasic of the San Jose Sharks, who captured an Olympic gold medal with Team Canada in 2014.

“I’m really happy for Arnaud to get an opportunity, to get drafted. Obviously, that’s a very small foot in the door. There’s still a lot of work left to do (for a potential pro career),” Goyens said of Durandeau, who notched 25 goals and 51 points in 42 games with the Lions during the 2014-2015 season.

Meanwhile, the Habs invited former Lions sniper Maxime Fortier to the team’s development camp next week in Brossard. The Lachine native went undrafted by the NHL and plays for the Mooseheads.

A suggestion: Habs scouts should attend some Lions games at the Dollard Civic Centre next season to get a heads-up on local teens who might be draft-worthy in a few years.

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